Earthbound

By Vaughn Pearson

Prologue

Sgt. John Daniels was running his soldiers hard. Light orbs illuminated the caverns. The Sgt. was a particularly small man but what he lacked in size he made up for in military prowess. Wearing his military armour, he looked like a futuristic knight. His helmet had a stretched “V” shape for a visor that could instantly become tinted in case of an enemy flash grenade. Type U heavy assault armour covered every inch of his body. Type U armour was memory metal and was completely flexible, bending with the Sgt.’s body. Right now he needed it bad. At admiral Ross’ request, Sgt. Daniels was to put his troops to the hardest test possible. The hardest he could think of was taking him down. Now he regretted not just doing halo-training. Four elite soldiers all bombarding him from every angle. Not that he hated doing this. These four elites were like family to him. They had played roles in major events. Most commendable was their role in the incident on 55 Cancri.

Chapter 1

Years ago, Daniels’ team, called Beta Team at the time, was summoned to the UNited Space Corp headquarters on the man-made island Equos (pronounced E-cose) to be informed of their next assignment. They were to be sent to the 55 Cancri system; the closest solar system to our own. Beta Team was to secure a camp of scientists. The camp hand’t been responding to any messages that were sent to them and UNSC was getting worried. At first Daniels was outraged.

“This is the kind of mission for a science team, or at the most a simple foot team. Why send in one of your heavy assault teams”, shouted Daniels, while slamming his fist on the table.

“Look Daniels, I know you aren’t very happy…” said Ross.

Daniels uncharacteristically interrupted his commanding officer. “Not Happy? NOT HAPPY! I’m outraged. We were just about to get transferred to the tropics. The men have been looking forward to getting of the arctic for ages, and now you send us to the only place that could possibly be colder than the arctic!”

Daniels wasn’t done shouting.

“This isn’t just another com failure like all the others we’ve been having recently,” said Ross, now starting to raise his voice, “So shut up and listen, because if you don’t, then you’ll be spending a lot more time in the cold.”

Daniels did just that. Shut up. He had never, in all his years in the army seen the Admiral angry. Usually he was like a gentle giant. Broad shouldered, shaved head, piercing eyes, but the kindest soul you could imagine. Daniels had no idea how to respond so he just sat down and made a mental note to never let that happen again.

“Now”, continued Admiral Ross in a calmer voice, “let me explain our situation. A group of scientists were sent to the 55 Cancri system here.” A monitor behind him flickered to life while calling up a star chart. The Admiral pointed to a small system midway between the Alpheratz and Mirach stars.

”The star 55 Cancri is orbited by a Jupiter-like gas giant, located 5.5 astronomical units from its sun, thirteen year long cycle, forty time the size of earth.”

“Wait, forty times? Wouldn’t that make it impossible to land on?”

“That’s what everyone thought. But, recently, an ion storm swept through the 55 Cancri system. This storm dissipated the massive storms that cover the planet. A team was sent to investigate. That team discovered that the planet was much smaller than we had thought. Underneath the clouds of the supposed gas giant was actually a habitable planet much like our own. The team was sent to the surface of the planet. Before they could send a message, their com systems were wiped out.”

“So, you get your second best assault team to fix some broken circuits on some planet in the middle of nowhere?”

“Actually, it’s just between the Castor, Polling, and Gemini systems”, corrected Ross.

“The Gemini system? Isn’t that where the recent android attacks were?,” Daniels asked.

“Ugh, ever since those colonization droids went rogue, there’s been speculation about all earth-like planets”, Ross explained. “But, to answer your question, I don’t know. Believe me, if I knew where any of those terrorist hideouts were, they’d be wiped out, or I would, whatever came first.”

Daniels understood. Ever since a group of a hundred colony droids went rogue, droids everywhere had been joining them to fight the humans. Luckily, the humans had allies. The primate army volunteered to help out. The strength of the ape warriors easily matched the droids, but there were very few of them, and the chimps where only good for piloting and technology. Beta Team was lucky enough to have an ape volunteer to stay permanently on the team. He didn’t have a human name, so they called him Charlie. He seemed to like it. And, since Charlie could speak, if he really didn’t like it, he would have let everyone know.

A spectral type A3 V, magnitude 4.3, and its distance from Earth is 75 light years

Then, of course, there are the demons.

They aren’t actually demons, they just highly resemble them. They come from subterranean Mars, a planet on the surface pocked with craters, deadly, swirling dust storms, scorching days, freezing nights, and polar ice caps. But, beneath the surface, heated by methane gas spewing from the planet’s core, the demons survive, feeding off the gas, indeed thriving from it as we do from our dosage of oxygen. Away from the caverns of Mars, the demons needed methane tubes to provide them their gas of life. The combination of frighteningly huge menacing creatures hauling around canisters of compressed gas strapped to their backs, with re-breather tubes connected to their mouths and nostrils made them look like scuba from hell. When they breathed through their methane tubes, they hissed, and slurred. You could never tell if they’d been heavily drinking. Which they did often.

The demons are like lizard-gorillas. They have large chests, strong arms and legs, but with the skin, feet and hands of lizards, along with a human-like face, rimmed with spikes that form a sort of spike mane. Evolution has made them fireproof, and in our world bulletproof, but for their world, impenetrable so they can survive the blasts of red-hot magma, deep in the caverns below the planet’s dusty surface.

Beta Team has two demons, Zeg and Raykajek, Ray for short. Zeg is earthy brown, while his twin Raykajek is camouflage green. Nobody dares to ask them if they are twin brothers, sisters, or a combination. Both are veterans of the robot wars. Now they have the UNSC to….

“Daniels, are you listening?” asked Ross, interrupting his thoughts.

“I’m sorry sir. You were saying?”

“You leave in three days. The trip will take a week in total. Transport has been arranged,” finished Ross as he stood.

Daniels stood, saluted, and then head off to brief his troops.

Chapter 2

Two soldiers came staggering out of a bar, being pushed out by a single ape.

“Come on you guys, let’s get out of here before Daniels sees you”, said Charlie with a grunt.

“Aw, honnesssstly Charlie. You need to have ssssome fun”, hissed Zeg.

“Yeah Charlie. Whatssss up with you? You usssed to be sssso fun.” Complained Ray.

“I think it mussst have been thossse pretty girlsss,” said Zeg.

“Oooooohhhhh, Charlie’sssss got a crusssssh!”

Charlie let out a roar, rearing up on his feet and beat his chest. “I do not have a……crush” snarled Charlie with a shudder.

“I ssssee,” said Ray. “Zeg, I think I’ve hit a sssoft ssspot in the heart of a ssstone. Sssso, what’s her name?”

Charlie started to raise his fist but was stopped.

“That’s enough Charlie. Who wants to explain what’s happening here?” asked the Sgt.

The twin demons immediately snapped out of their drunken haze.

“Sssir, we started the fight, ssssir”, said the twins in unison.

“Reduced rations for the two of you for a week. Charlie, control yourself. All of you, report to my quarters in an hour for a mission briefing.”

Charlie got back down on all fours. The twins both walked off, their metal uniforms clinking. The demons preferred metal over cloth, the metal micro-fibres would withstand fire, unlike normal cloth. Charlie, on the other hand, wore gorilla SWAT armour at all times. Made up of a bulletproof vest, shoulder pads, forearm pads, metal-plated gloves, and cushioned pants. His hand-like feet were unprotected.

“I’m sorry for my behavior sir,” apologized Charlie.

“At ease.”

“Sir, if I may venture to ask, what is our next mission? You said it may be in the Congo jungle or the Amazon.”

“Charlie, I know you miss the jungle, and being with your people, but…..”

“But what?”

“Before we are re-stationed in the Congo jungle, we have one last mission. We’re going to space.”

Chapter 3

“Ahhh, Moon Bassse,” hissed Ray. No longer needing his methane mask due to the hybrid mix of methane and oxygen that flowed through the structure. Beta Team was walking down the promenade of the moon base.

Established in 2200 moon base was a long awaited luxury that had been fantasized since the first lunar landing. A popular vaction spot, the 1000 acre building covered the area of a small crater as well as travel deep into the crust. But the moon base served as a perfect wormhole port for travel form earth. A small base nearby held the military craft for the wormholes and army personnel didn’t often get to visit moon base but this mission was to be kept casual. Most likely the mission was a complete waste of time so best if they didn’t make a big fuss about it.

“Nothin like losssing the old gassss masssk,” said Zeg.

Charlie grunted “It stinks if you ask me.”

The methane mix gave the air a small stink but it was only really noticeable by apes due to their heightened sense of smell.

“Well,” retorted Ray “ We weren’t asssking you where we?”

Charlie snorted and all foured ahead to the front of the group with Daniels.

“Sir how longs this trip? I don’t know if the lizards are gonna make it.”

“ Ill handle em for ye,” He replied, “Hey Ray, Zeg, some pretty hexies (female demons) are watching, better cover up those limp spines!”

Hard spines where like having rippled muscles to demons. It was a way to show off their stuff. Hard spines where macho. Having limp spines was like being a dork.

Both the demons spun around and felt their spines, looks of utter embarrassment on their faces.

Daniels chuckled and Charlie started to grunt happily, pleased by the display. Charlie would normally have just pounded them each but they where in public and that is bad press for all of them.

“All right everybody, im going to meet up with our transport captain, you have 4 earth hours to be ready to go and meet me at port A4-112. In the mean time pack, wash up, and get some rest. It’s a long flight to the Cancri system.”

“Yes Sir.” They said in unision. Preceding this Charlie walked off (often when he walks he uses all his arms and legs but sometimes he chooses to walk upright) and the 2 demons headed towards the closest bar.

Charlie

Space. An unnatural, void of worthless nothingness. Charlie wondered why would people live in space? It was pointless. Why replicate the earth or mars when you could just live there for real? It made no sense. The humans where hard enough to understand but demons where just plain weird. Charlie couldn’t stand them. Filthy, scaly, drunken, lizards with attitude. Why bother trying to get along with them. All you had to do is just pick them up after they fall over drunk and they won’t leave you alone for life.

He hated being on the moon. The moon was just a big rock in space. The big part of that sentence, “space”. He hated it.

Charlie walked up to an air lock. Families and tourists came bouncing out from a day out on the moon, tired from their fun filled low gravity day. As Charlie walked by them most backed away. Children stared, mothers pulled them away, fathers moved in front of their families. Some waved hello but they were a select few actually from earth out of the large group. Apes were highly accepted in earth society but spacers(humans living in space) or Martians (humans raised on mars) weren’t to fond of their ancestors. Especially when fully decked out in swat gear.

Charlie grunted back at the people who waved and snarled at a couple of the scornful passer bys and continued on into the air lock.

Putting on a auto fit suit, Charlie slipped on his helmet and walked out the shields onto the moons surface. He may hate the moon but he could cover a football field in two seconds on it. It made for a good workout.

Bounding along the dusty ground he leapt clear across small craters the size of a house. Later, after another 45 mins of this he would pick up a large rock and repeat the process until the workout reaches a difficulty level beyond earth standards.

An hour and a half into his workout, Charlie crashed to a stop. A nearby rock had moved, only slightly but enough to be noticeable. Charlie let instincts kick in and went into primal mode. He couldn’t catch any scents so he had to rely on sight. Slowly he dropped the rocks he was carrying to the ground but kept the heaviest one. He heard a sound behind him and spun around. One of his rocks had caused a pebble to tumble over and roll behind him. Coming out of his primal cloak he turned on the scanner in the helmet. Heat was rising from behind the rock that had first moved. He lifted it. A heat vent was rising from the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was unarmed except for a rock and didn’t find combat a very convenient perspective.

He checked his timer. An hour until meeting time at the gate. He could get a couple lengths around the base by then and still have time to spare.

Zeg and Ray

Demons loved drinking, before they met humans they had never experienced any type of liquor before. They realized from the first drink they loved it. Now most demons can be seen holding flasks of whisky or even tequila. No matter how drunk they get though they can snap out of it in a second. All it takes is a quick slap on the head to get the juices flowing again and their back on their feet totally sober. Liquor, the weirdest scientific mystery of the demon world.

Ray and Zeg where good drinkers, by demon standards. Meaning they only go drunk 3 times a week as apposed to others who are nearly always drunk. After dismissal they had headed off to a bar to flirt with the hexies they had seen earlier.

So far unsuccessful they where determined to succeed in charming them with their macho appearance.

Go talk to her said Zeg to his brother in demon talk come on it’le be funny to watch them reject you for me

ha ha he replied your just jelous that that one smiled at me Ray nodded at one of the 2 hexies.

what? That one with the bulgy tail? asked Zeg. Hexies had long smooth tails that felt as smooth as silk.

what do you mean pudgy? Shes hot!

then talk to her! promted his brother.

fine then I will! Im drunk anyway Ray stagared over to the hexies sitting at the other end of the bar.

Hey baby, wanna join me? promted Ray, flexing muscles on his back and pointing his spikes up. That drew they eye of the humans near by but didn’t seem to intrest the hexies.

Maybe some other time replied the other hexie sitting next to his target.

Well that’s the thing, im going on a dangerous mission to a far away system in a couple of hours and I may not make it back alive. The deadly mission approach, always worked.

Is that so? Not the mission to Cancri system, the one with the whiny science geeks. I’m copiloting for that dangerous mission

Oh… Rays spikes lowered slightly and his drunken sense of self esteem deflated well see you 2 at the launch pad then

not me, im not going. said Rays original goal.

well then, umm……bye ray sulked off as Zeg hurt himself laughing back at their table.

come on said Ray grabbing his choking brothers arm and yanking him up its almost time to get to the launch pad

As they walked away the copilot hexie walked off followed by the smaller one. But as they walked through the crowd the smaller one just seemed to fade out.

Beta Team

“Alright team I hope we all had a productive break?” asked Daniels. All he got as an answer was a collective groan. The demons going through their 5 min long hangover and Charlie getting over his bruises.

“I didn’t catch that?”

“Yes Sir!” they said now getting back down to business.

“Alright then lets get on board. Your equipment and uniforms have been taken on board. Now it’s a 3 day long flight so I plan some reports on a tactical analysis of the situation, possible incidents, procedures, and a total inventory of all equipment, ship and personal. Clear?”

“Sir yes Sir!” The team walked out of the hallway outside the dock into an airlock. This led to a small walkway that connected to the ship. Here the whole team stopped in place. Worm hole ships were the most streamlined and durable of all ships, and in turn, where the most amazing and coolest of them all. But this one topped them all. Hovering in the air with docking mechanisms attached to it was a sleek, powerful looking, ship that had the look of a fighter jet- submarine hybrid. Its total grandeur was far to immense to describe, but one can try. It was long and shaped like an oval that came to a point at the back of the ship, where the hull reversed it’s path and traveled inwards to form a bowl like shape at the back of the ship. This was the engine. The hull in this area was missing and in its place was a glowing series of red disks that followed the shape of the ship. As well as this the ship had four small wings that stuck out of its sides. View ports the size of…view ports pocketed the ships hull, with one large window that marked the bridge, which, for tactical reasons, was on an outcropping on the side of the ship. The outcropping was smoothed into the rest of the ship to keep it aerodynamic.

What seemed like hours they stood there, looking at it. Then a loud clang nearby jogged them out of their trance and they continued on to the entrance to the ships bridge.